The Return of Psycho Ari
by claihm solais
Summary: Sequel to "Wacky Adventures of Psycho Ari". In which Kagome's looking for a college, the Inu-Yasha gang accompanies her, and they end up meeting Ari again at UCI. Hilarity ensues.
1. Looking for a College

Author's Notes: BWUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ari didn't kill me after all! Anyway, it struck me as interesting that Kagome might be looking for a college. Besides, the ending of the last episode just asked for a sequel.

CHAPTER ONE: SEARCHING FOR A COLLEGE

            Kagome climbed out of the well and shook her head. How was she going to explain to Inu-Yasha that she would be gone for at least two weeks while she was looking for a college in America? The girl sighed. First things first. That was still a week away, and she would think of a way to tell the hanyou by then. She just hoped he would let her go. This was very important to her.

            She headed for the direction of Kaede's village, knowing full well that the hanyou would be waiting for her.

            "NO WAY!!!!" Inu-Yasha yelled. "I'm not letting you go alone! I'm not letting you go at all!" The hanyou had, as Kagome had expected, thrown a tantrum. "Come on, Inu-Yasha. This is my future. I need to go there to survive in my world."

            "What do they teach you, anyway?"

            "All the stuff we need to know to be able to live," Kagome told him. The half-demon's eyes wavered for a moment. Then, he grabbed her around her waist and hauled her off in the direction of the well. "You're going there. Now. And I'm coming with you." Kagome smiled. She knew he'd understand if she used the right words.

            "And we're coming, too!" Shippou chimed. "Yeah! We want to see Kagome-sama's world, too," Miroku said. Kagome sighed. All right, a complete vacation it was. At least they were as prepared as they could be. Not that that was any consolation.

            The plane left Tokyo airport for the USA. More specifically, Los Angeles International Airport. It had taken quite some work to convince Miroku and Sango to get into this strange metal contraption that was supposed to carry them high across the skies. Inu-Yasha had already known about airplanes, and so he tried not to smash everything that seemed to move out of its own accord.

            The flight took nine hours. Inu-Yasha sat next to Kagome, seemingly very interested in the movies that were shown. Kagome leaned against him contently, drifting in and out of sleep, one of his arms unconsciously draped across her shoulders. Miroku was trying to pick up the stewardesses, and Sango was trying to keep him in line. Shippou was pressed against the window to try to get a good look at what the sky looked like from up here.

            They spent the night at a hotel in Los Angeles, then were picked up by an uncle of Kagome. He drove them southwards. "You know, the colleges in LA are quite selective, and mostly filled to capacity nowadays. I mean, USC you probably won't like, UCLA isn't too nice to international students, and CalTech is probably not for you, unless you are a tech major." He noted as he drove down the freeway.

            "So, what do you suggest?"

            "Try one of the other UCs. Like Irvine, or Berkley. Maybe even San Diego." Her uncle smiled. "I got a room for you and your friends at UCI. I bet you'll like it. I also have a friend of mine there to take care of you. His name's Sung Wang. He's a Iaido instructor there." Kagome arched her brow. "I get to live on campus? Wow!"

            Her uncle chuckled. "Yep. Meet some people, visit some classes. It's going to be fun for you, I hope. The next four weeks will certainly be interesting."


	2. The Arrival

Author's Note: All right, I don't own Inu-Yasha! Most of the people who appear in this chapter are based on real people, and I tried to portrait them as correctly as I could. They belong to themselves, except for me, LOL.

CHAPTER TWO: THE ARRIVAL

            The car halted at a parking lot. Kagome read the signs. West Peltason and Bison. Her uncle got out, as did the rest of the car's occupants. They helped her unload her luggage, and then she left with her uncle to check in, leaving Inu-Yasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou behind to "guard" the car.

            After some struggle, mainly to get Kagome's overlarge suitcase into the second floor of an eight-apartment building, her uncle waved goodbye. "I gotta get back to work. Take care! Sung'll be by and checking on you in about two hours! Have fun!" With that, the car pulled out of the driveway.

           Kagome sighed as she flopped down in a chair. The flight had been exhausting, and she was starting to feel the jet lag. She drifted off to sleep. The last thing she noticed was Inu-Yasha telling Sango _not_ to use the microwave to dry Kirara.

            She woke up to a knock on the door. She stretched. "I'm coming," she called in Enlgish, then got up and unlocked the door. Before her stood a asian man, a little short by american standards, but still a little taller than she was. He had short black hair, and a glasses perked on his nose. "Hello. You are Higurashi Kagome?"

            As the girl nodded, the man bowed, then extended a hand. "My name is Sung Wang. Your uncle asked me to take care of you while you are here." Kagome smiled. "Oh, right." Sung noticed the other occupants of the apartment. "Are these your friends?" His eyes wandered over Inu-Yasha, who was wearing a dark red coat to cover his kimono – he had refused to part with it, even though the customs had insisted – Sango, who was in a more conventional outfit with slacks and a light blouse and Miroku, who was adorned with pants, shirt, and jacket. His eyes finally settled on Shippou. "Hmmm..."

            Kagome laughed nervously and gently shoved Shippou into another room before Sung noticed the fox tail. "I'm sure you are tired. I'll be coming by again tomorrow and give you a tour of the campus, if you'd like."

            Kagome nodded. "That would be very nice, thank you."

            The next day, a Friday, the group walked across the campus. Sung had told them he had a class to take care of, and left them alone. Inu-Yasha was looking around, marvelling at the trees in the center park – what had they called it? Right, "Aldrich Park". 

            "Aah! Out of the way! Sorry! Excuse me!" A voice shouted from right in front of them. The hanyou glanced into the direction, just in time to see a young guy bowl over Kagome, who hadn't reacted in time. He growled at the boy.

            "Sorry! I'm in a hurry, you all right?" The words sprouted from his mouth faster than Kagome could understand. Sango helped the boy pick up the other girl. "Kagome-chan, daijobu da?" Kagome nodded.

            The boy arched an eyebrow. "Ah! Gomen nasai...awatete iru wa..." and off he was. The others just stared after him. "Odd," was all Miroku could say to that. Kagome shrugged and kept walking. There was a lot more to see on campus, and she wasn't bothered by the incident.

            Ari walked across California drive on her way to the ARC (Anteater Recreational Center) that evening, her iaito case slung over her shoulder. She silently cursed her car that had broken down a couple of days ago and was still in the garage. "Not used to walking anymore?" She glanced to the side at the new voice that intruded her thoughts. For a second, she thought she caught a flash of red and white out of the corner of her eyes. _Naaah. Must be hallucinating._

            "Very funny, Patrick. You really want your ass kicked, don't you?" The aubrun haired girl shot back. The short asian boy that had walked up to her laughed lightly. "If you'd put me six feet under everytime you threatened to do so, it'd take me the entire next year to dig myself out."

            The guy next to Patrick chuckled. He was a taller asian guy, with spiky hair. He was carrying a shotgun bag which contained his iaito. "Better not risk it," he said. "She still hasn't forgiven you the other story you wrote about her."

            "Exactly. Now, if you want to keep your head on, stop doing that!" Ari exclaimed. She glanced backwards. "There's lots of new students this quarter, huh?" Patrick nodded, then pointed back at the other two people that were walking behind them. "Yep. Here's two more. That's Patrick, and Dinh." Ari eyed the two other asian boys carefully. "Hmpf. Somehow, I feel a little outnumbered."

            "That's cause here, you are the minority," they chimed, and they broke out into laughter. Ari arched an eyebrow, then glared at Dinh. "Wait, weren't you the one who challenged me to a duel once?" He nodded. "Yes."

            "We still need to do that," Ari told him with a smile. The two Patricks shared a glance. "Uh-oh." Eric just nodded.

            After changing and moving up to the top floor of the ARC, they surveyed the mass of people standing in front of the training room, waiting for the class before them – Caporeira – to end. They gaped as they saw the number of new students for the first class this quarter. "That's one hell of a lot of people," Ari said.

            As the doors opened and they streamed in against the flow of people coming out, they found their familiar places on the bench. Eric unzipped his shotgun bag, and dug out his iaito from it, while Patrick took the long pole he'd been hauling around off his shoulders and undid the tie, then removed the cloth from the doubled-up iaito and bokken. 

            "Line up!" Dave Otagura's voice resounded in the room. The people in the room tried to line up, but with that many people, confusion erupted until the second-and-higher quarter students formed a solid line, with the rest lined up behind them. They bowed, then moved onto the floor for the bowing in.

            After the ceremony, with Dave holding his opening speech, Patrick leaned slightly over to Eric. "Wow. I didn't know there were this many people interested in Iaido." "Yeah, it is quite a lot of people."

            Suddenly, the door opened, and Sung walked in. Dave halted his speech for a moment. "What is it?"

            Sung bowed to the floor, then stepped aside. "We have some guests who would like to attend class today," he told him.

            From her vantage point in front of Patrick, Ari could barely make out a glimpse of red and white as the door opened. _Hmm...wonder who this is._ She heard Patrick's sharp intake of breath, and leaned to the side to see past him. Her jaw dropped to the floor. _Holy Hell..._


	3. A NotSoNormal Iaido Class

CHAPTER THREE: A NOT SO NORMAL IAIDO CLASS

            Inu-Yasha glanced around the training floor nervously. Usually, when he practiced his swordfighting – which had been quite often, lately, ever since that girl had come to visit them – he was alone. He felt uncomfortable with so many people in the room, although he knew he could probably defeat them all with the Tetsusaiga.

            The instructor – what had Sung called him again? Right, Dave Otagura – beckoned them on the floor. The hanyou had lost his coat. Since he was wearing his red yukata and hakama beneath it, it wasn't a problem. Kagome, Miroku, and Sango had changed into the black-and-white garb the ARC had rented them.

            He saw someone wave at him and glanced over the boy. He was shorter than most people on the training floor, and looked asian. Rimless glasses perched on his nose, and he had his right hand on the hilt of his iaito while waving with his left. Inu-Yasha's gaze wandered further, until..._What in the seven hells...???_

Ari frowned. It couldn't be...it had all been a dream, hadn't it? She glanced down at her katana, the one that she had found on her nightstand. Patrick leaned over and grinned. "Nice sword," he commented, indicating the sky blue saya and intricately decorated hilt. She glanced down at her sword, then looked back in the direction of the guy in the red kimono. She smiled. That would be one heck of a class.

            The class went as usual – halfways, anyway. By the time Dave had announced he would take the new students to the next room over, Inu-Yasha had gotten into a heated dispute with Sung about whether or not he could be counted as an intermediate student or not. Finally, with an annoyed "Feh," Inu-Yasha relented and walked over to the group of newbies who stared at his sword in amazement.

            Ari grinned as she recalled the capabilities of the rusted blade. And the hanyou's...lack in proper technique. _Well, he said he'd be working on it._ She grinned wider as she recalled their fights. _Yup, that was a fun time._

            Suddenly, yelling could be heard from the next room over, and there was a crash. When the commotion in the other room was over, Inu-Yasha came striding onto the floor of the forum victoriously. Ari arched an eyebrow. What had the hanyou done now? Dave walked in behind him. "Sung, he'd like to join the advanced students," he told him, then left.

           Patrick grinned. "Hm...that sounded like some interesting...convincing methods." Inu-Yasha grinned and walked over. "Feh. Easy one." Patrick chuckled and bowed. "Hi, I'm Patrick Huu. You must be Inu-Yasha." The hanyou arched an eyebrow. "Ari talks a lot about you," the short guy said and laughed. The hanyou glanced over the crowd quickly and spotted a speck of auburn hair in the middle of the other group in the room. "So she did, did she?"

            Sung grinned. "All right, let's see some katas." Everyone groaned, because they knew it meant either one of two katas so far – as everyone announced one of the two, Inu-Yasha called out a different one from Ichi-Monji or Segetsu. Sung frowned as the hanyou knelt down and launched into a full combat kata, slashing the rusted Tetsusaiga through the air with deadly accuracy and speed.

            Ari glanced over and saw Inu-Yasha performing his kata, and gaped. The first thing that came to her mind was, _How did he get that sword through customs?_ The second thing was, _That looks great!_ The hanyou had been practicing, indeed. She saw Sung stand there, gaping, and chuckled. That must have been quite a shock for the instructor.

            Sung arched an eyebrow as Inu-Yasha finished up his kata and rose again. The entire room was deathly quiet as the hanyou glanced around and barked, "What are you staring  at?" It was Ari's turn to gape. _Since when did Inu-Yasha learn to speak English??_

            By the end of the class, everyone piled up on the benches to find their stuff, and Ari took the opportunity to walk over to the supposed half-demon, who was laughing at a joke Dinh had just told him. He turned around and nearly ran into her. "What do you wa--..." He trailed off. Ari stared. Dinh looked confused, as did John. The two Patricks laughed.

            Sung chose that moment to walk in. "How long have you been practicing Iai?" He asked the hanyou. Inu-Yasha closed his mouth, then re-opened it to answer. "Some time," he said. _More than sixty years,_ Ari thought. There was a crash, and everyone turned around to see Sango and Kagome trying to pry a beet red and angry Karen off Miroku. Ari sighed. "I'll never understand that houshi. You would think he would have learned his lesson after the first few hundred times..."

            Patrick chuckled. "Yah. So, Inu-Yasha, why don't you and Kagome and Sango and Miroku – and presumably Shippou – come and visit us this weekend? We can give you a tour of the campus." Kagome glanced over and nodded. "That sounds good. Hey, wait. Didn't you run into me earlier today?"

            The asian guy nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. I was in something of a hurry, was late for my Chem discussion. Sorry about that."


End file.
